02/15/2019

We were recently referred to an individual whose aunt was living in a nursing home. The administrator of the nursing home told the nephew to contact our office to see if there would be anything that we could to assist. The aunt was a single individual who had lost a husband years ago. The aunt and her husband worked very hard during their lifetime, and at various times both of them had at least two jobs.

The aunt talked openly to her family about the fact that her nephew was everything that she had, and that she wanted to make sure that her nephew received something from her and her husband when they died. Unfortunately, the aunt, being alone, was not able to continue to live in her home alone and had to move into a nursing home. She has been living in a nursing home for over a year and was receiving excellent care. The administrator of the nursing home knew of the aunt’s wishes and told them to give us a call to see if there would be anything that we could do to help.

At the time that we became involved, the aunt was down to approximately $100,000 in assets and a house that was worth about $150,000. The nephew had heard that he would have to spend down the $100,000 in her assets and get his aunt qualified for Medicaid while keeping the house, because there is an exception in the law that says that as long as the aunt has an “intent to return home,” he would be able to get her qualified for Medicaid. What the nephew did not realize until our meeting was that if you exempt the home with the intent to return home, the State has a right to lien the property up to the amount of care that was provided. The nephew felt defeated when he learned that and was convinced that there would be nothing that we’d be able to do to help. He was wrong.

In Pennsylvania, even in a situation where an individual is single, we are able to protect half of the assets, but at least half of the assets have to be in cash to be able to do so. In this case, the overall value of the estate was $250,000, which means that we needed about $125,000 in cash. The nephew decided to put in $25,000 of his own money to give us $125,000 of cash that we needed. In return, we were able to deed the property to the nephew and preserve the home. The aunt has dementia, so the likelihood is that she will live for an extended period of time in the nursing home, as she is only in her early 80s. By the nephew putting in $25,000 of his own money, he was able to get a property in his name worth at least $150,000, and he is hopeful that if he is able to clean it up a little bit, he’ll be able to sell it for even more than that. The best part of this story is that the aunt is able to still live in a facility that is providing tremendous care for her, and she is also able to provide a legacy for her nephew, her home.

We are grateful to the nursing home administrator who thought of our firm and knew that we would be able to assist. We are very pleased that we were able to give the family the outcome that they were looking for and the ability to carry on both the aunt’s and uncle’s wishes, even though he is no longer with us.

If you want to talk about your unique family situation contact us today. You can click here or call us at 717-845-5390.

Research shows that optimistic people tend to be much happier and successful in life than pessimists. Pessimism often leads to depression and missing out on the joy of life. So how can we be more optimistic and lead a happier, more successful lives?

Pessimists look at new opportunities and think to themselves, “Nah, it probably won’t work for me,” and they are usually right. Most things don’t work the first time. So as a result, pessimists don’t take enough chances to try for what they want. Optimism is a mindset that anyone can learn to get what they want in life. Optimism involves the willingness to take chances, fail and try again with a good attitude. Those who take chances, end up winning once in a while, and eventually get what they want.

A case study from MetLife shows that optimistic people are far more successful than pessimists. In fact, according to their research, people who ranked among the top 10% of most optimistic people sold 88% more new business than those who were rated as the most pessimistic. Optimism is infectious, so customers naturally want to do more business with optimists vs. pessimists. Put optimism to work at the office, and you are more likely to get that promotion over your gloomier pessimistic counterparts.

Pessimism, particularly extreme pessimism, is often actually a symptom of depression. It can work both ways – pessimistic thought patterns can lead a person to depression, or a person can become depressed and therefore become a pessimist. If you want to stave off depression, then one of the most important things you can do is to start living with a more positive, optimistic outlook.

As with everything, however, optimism should be in moderation. Research has also shown that while pessimists are more likely to become depressed, unrealistic optimists are even more likely than pessimists to become depressed. Unrealistic optimists tend to set themselves up for disappointment, whether that is through the pursuit of highly unlikely career paths or through other unrealistic and overly optimistic expectations.

A realistic yet optimistic outlook will make you healthier, wealthier and happier. However, make sure that you don’t overdo it. Temper your optimism with a little bit of realistic pessimism, and you’ll be able to take advantage of opportunities as they come without setting yourself up for disappointment.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”

02/11/2019

A family was recently referred to us by a local nursing home because the wife had a stroke and she is going to need care for the foreseeable future. The nursing home social worker was talking with the husband, who was scared because he had a modest amount of money that he has accumulated during his lifetime, but was nervous that it would not take long at $11,400 a month for him to not be able to provide for himself in the future.

For help with that problem, the Pennsylvania Medicaid spousal rules are certainly a great start and provide that as the community spouse, the husband would be allowed to keep the house, his car, his retirement account, and one-half of the remaining assets, up to a maximum in 2019 of $126,420.00 and no less than $25,284.00 (those amounts change each year). The social worker explained this to the husband and he still had some trepidation, being only in his late 50s, wanting to know if that would be enough for him to live another 50 years of his life. He loved the nursing home that he was able to get his wife into and was excited about the care that she will receive.

After several sleepless nights for him, the social worker told him to give us a call and I met with him recently. The husband is an absolute joy to work with and was very appreciative of the care that his wife was receiving. He was ecstatic when I was able to tell him that we would be able to not only protect the aforementioned items, but also the additional $350,000 on top of the $124,000 that was guaranteed under the law.

We were able to put the plan in place and did get approval on the Medicaid application. It is very rare in our profession that family members hug or show outward affection toward their lawyers. I will never forget the moment when we received the application and I was able to tell my client that we were able to protect the items that he knew about, but in addition to that, the other monies that he had feared of losing.

With tears in his eyes, he hugged me and said, Jeff I will never be able to repay you. I appreciate everything that the nursing home has done for me and for my wife, but it is also comforting to know that now I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to live for the remainder of my life and the care that I receive.

We are pleased to report that this outcome is a very common for our clients; we have been able to secure this result for hundreds of clients in and around York, Pennsylvania. If you or a family member have a loved one in a nursing home and need assistance, please call us (717-845-5390) or click here and give us a little information and we'll call you, and it will be our pleasure to make this success story yours.

Shell and de-vein raw shrimp, leaving tail on. Split each lengthwise 1 inch from the head. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Dip shrimp into the mixture and place in a shallow pan in a single layer. Pour remaining sauce over the shrimp. Top with a sprinkle of flavored bread crumbs. Broil 8 to 10 minutes. 4 servings.

"How you see the world. How you deal with it. That determines your real wealth."

– God (from the 'Joan of Arcadia' TV series)

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?", asked the father

The son answered:

"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

“We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

“We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

“Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

“We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

“We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

“We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

“We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added...

"Thanks, Dad for showing me how poor we are."

...When I first saw this story, I was touched and I'm grateful for the opportunity to pass it along to you as well.

P.S. One thing I love about this story is that it holds two messages simultaneously: One, we can feel abundant no matter what we have, and two, we all deserve abundance however we define that.

02/05/2019

This is a question that I receive quite frequently from financial professionals with whom we work very closely. The typical answer is, they would not. However, there are times when this makes sense, as seen in a recent case where the financial advisor, the accountant and I all agreed that it made sense to do so in light of the individual’s circumstances.A client was referred to us who had worked with other attorneys and was not pleased with the results, and a friend of theirs mentioned our workshops. I began by asking the family the simple question of what brought them in to us today and what were they hoping to accomplish? As I listened, it became apparent that the only reason that the husband and wife were in my office was to make sure that their assets were protected for their children.The husband explained that both his and his wife’s parents ended their lives in nursing homes and all totaled, the bills were about $750,000. In both family situations, the parents exhausted their assets and ended up on Medicaid, and there were no assets left to pass on to the children. The husband was adamant and said repeatedly that this will not happen in my situation and I want a solution. As we dove into their situation, it became apparent to me that there was approximately $500,000 of assets that were funded in retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, IRAs and 403(b)s. At the conclusion of the meeting, I explained to the client that generally we never liquidate retirement accounts during a person’s lifetime, because not only will it trigger significant tax consequences but could also have unintended consequences such as Medicare premiums and other such things. The client would not accept that as an answer and did not believe that leaving $500,000 exposed was the right decision. After three meetings with the advisor and the accountant and me, we were able to come up with a plan that was satisfactory to everyone, and with the clients in their early 60s, time was definitely on our side.

In this situation, we ended up liquidating his retirement account over five years at $100,000 a year, and took the remainder of the assets after taxes and funded them in an Asset Protection Trust. The downside of this plan was that in year five when he liquidated the last $100,000, in order to have it fully protected, they had to stay out of a nursing home for an additional five years, which would be a total of 10 years. In light of their age and circumstances, it was certainly a risk that we were willing to take. Ultimately, this compromise allowed the advisor and the accountant to also be very comfortable that it would accomplish their objective, but at the same time, not exacerbate any unintended consequences such as taxes and surcharges and premiums, etc.

Although the client wanted the assets to be protected immediately, he understood that at best it would have to be done over five years, as liquidating 100% of those assets in one year would trigger much higher income tax rates, and was definitely not an avenue that any of us really could support. I was very pleased that we were able to accomplish the client’s objective in this case, while at the same time making the financial professional and accountant happy. The father then called a family meeting and we had a phone conversation with the entire family to explain to all of the kids why we did what we did and what the rationale was behind the plan. Everybody was on board and was excited that we were able to come to a compromise that pleased everybody.Estate planning and elder law is absolutely not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every case is very different, and, done properly, works best with a team approach. We relish working with financial professionals and accountants to accomplish the clients’ goals in a way that is not only acceptable to them, but also to their families. Thank you to this family and the many more whom we have helped over the years to accomplish their estate planning goals.

This is a question that I'm often asked by young clients with young children. The basics of the plan are very similar to what a lot of individuals would expect. I always encourage people to have a financial power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, a living will, and Last Will and Testament.

Incapacity is something that often occurs, and older age is not always a factor. Even young individuals should have a financial power and medical power of attorney in place if they are over 18. I have gone at length in other blogs and in my workshops to explain the importance of financial powers of attorney, and I certainly cannot stress them enough. However, this article is specifically going to discuss whether a family with young children needs more than just a base Will.

Our office offers both base and enhanced Will plans for families. Our base wills are approximately 23 to 25 pages and typically will cover everything that a family would need from an understated age trust to a trust in case anyone has a loved one with special needs who upon inheriting assets would be disqualified from receiving benefits, which is called a special needs trust. We put both of those on standby, or “what if”, trusts in every document to ensure that families will be protected in the unlikely event that they were to die with beneficiaries under a specified age (at a minimum 18) and/or with any beneficiaries who are incapacitated or disabled.

These plans are able to cover most situations, but our enhanced Will plan provides something that our base plan cannot, which is the ability to protect inherited retirement accounts and other assets for children. Although our base plan provides an understated age trust in it, which allows a family to be able to set the age at which a child is able to receive a lump sum distribution, it cannot put a retirement account into that trust without triggering tax consequences.

In order for a retirement account to be inherited by a child and still be able to stretch out the tax benefits, it has to be put into a qualified trust called a see-through trust. Our enhanced plans are equipped with qualified see-through trusts which allow you to protect your retirement accounts without triggering any negative tax consequences. This is essential when dealing with young children because, if we use a base plan, then we must name the beneficiary outright in the retirement account.

Once we name a beneficiary outright, the beneficiary is able, at the age of 18, to force liquidation of the entire account, pay all the tax consequences, and do what they wish with the remainder of the retirement account. This is often not what parents want; rather, they want the money to be able to stretch out over the child's life expectancy from a tax perspective, but also keep it asset protected so that an 18-year-old cannot force distribution. Such trusts also protect the retirement account from the child’s creditors.

We at Bellomo and Associates have had great success at protecting young families with our enhanced plans so that we can stretch out tax benefits over the children's life expectancy and also keep the money protected from any unforeseen creditors. Please come to one of our workshops or contact our office to learn more about these benefits.

Bellomo & Associates is proud to celebrate its 10th anniversary on February 16, 2019.

Ten years ago, my close friend Attorney Nate Platt and I opened Bellomo & Platt, LLC. I remember the morning of February 16, 2009, well. We both walked into our new office and looked at each other with excitement and utter terror. We were pleased to be able to serve the estate-planning and elder law community with top-notch legal service but also realized that going on our own when both of our wives were pregnant was probably not the most intelligent idea.

We had a very clear vision of the future, and, although Nate wasn’t able to stay very long, he definitely got me over the hump and over my fear. Prior to Nate and me talking about the future, I was not able to envision opening my own firm, and I credit him with giving me the confidence to do what we have done. I was very sad to see Nate have to go back to Pittsburgh to take care of his family, but, at that point, I knew that I had the foundation necessary to continue forward on my own.

Now we are in 2019, celebrating our 10th anniversary!

We have grown tremendously, and have moved Bellomo & Associates into our “forever” headquarters at 3198 East Market Street in York, Pennsylvania. No matter where our offices have been located over the years, many of our clients have commented on the sense of family that we have. Nate and I envisioned a firm where team members would love to come to work and clients would be excited to call them their attorneys.

Ten years later, we are still serving the estate-planning and elder law community, and we still receive the same compliments and comments from team workers and clients alike. It is truly an honor 10 years later to keep doing what we started out to do. To Nate, who gave me the confidence in myself, and to every client who has come through the doors and entrusted their estate planning needs to us, thank you for your support and trust.

Have you ever seen one of those cookbooks where many people contribute favorite recipes which are then collected and compiled into a best of recipe book? My mother loved these books and always said the “best of the best” recipes were held there.

This past Christmas, I visited family back in Western Pennsylvania. We had a wonderful time reminiscing, celebrating and an even a better time eating our way through some of our favorite recipes. Most of our dishes came from the old recipe box my Mom loved. The recipes were usually modifications of a recipe she found in a best of cookbook.

I know some of you will not recognize some of our favorites, but that’s the point. Over the course of the next few months, I will share some of my family’s favorite recipes.

Many of my family’s favorites are from my Mom’s recipe collection. I was fortunate on this visit to find her recipe box. Over the next few months, I’d like to share some of these recipes not only because they represent great eating, but also because they always give me an excuse to fondly think of her. We used to look forward to special occasions because Mom would always let us kids pick our favorite dish for her to make.

As my first recipe submission, I offer my mother’s cheesy potato recipe, one of my favorites. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Cheesy Potatoes from Gwen Bellomo

Ingredients:

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

4 cups sliced potatoes

1/2 cup sliced onions

1 cup shredded extra sharp cheese

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika

Blend soup, milk, salt and pepper in a bowl. In buttered 1.5 quart casserole arrange alternate layers of potatoes, onions, soup mixture and cheese. Dot top with butter and sprinkle with salt and paprika. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft and cheese is bubbly.

We never made this dish without doubling or even tripling the recipe. The potatoes taste great and even better as a leftover.

01/28/2019

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle” – Napoleon Hill

Justin Champion offered the following observations printed in the 4/20/16 edition of Wild We Wander.

Life is a rollercoaster; there are a lot of ups, downs and unexpected turns. So, try to enjoy the opportunities that are always presented.

While it may sound a lot easier said than done, here are some ways to nurture a healthy, happy life.

Smile and laugh every day. Choose to make the day worth living.

Let go of pain. You can always remember the past, but you only get one shot for today.

You are in control of your emotions. Don’t let others tell you how to feel and don’t expect someone to change the way you feel.

Stay weird. There’s only one you. Be unique. Be the black sheep.

Value experiences, not material objects. Declutter yourself and fill your mind with memories that can’t be taken away.

You didn’t get here by yourself. Appreciate those around you who helped you get where you are today.

Be your biggest fan. You’re stuck with yourself so learn to love you.

Enjoy your successes. You earned it.

Know how to bounce back from failure. Fail early and fail often. Learn and adapt.

Do what you love and love what you do. Find a way to make your passion your life’s purpose. If you're not sure how to do this, then keep trying.

You only have one body. Your body's a temple. Worship it and keep it healthy.

Take ownership for your actions. We all make mistakes. There’s no use in blaming others. Own up and move on.

Surround yourself with others who make you feel good. If you’re in a toxic relationship, then you have the choice to get out. You deserve the right to be happy.

Find a partner who makes you the best version of yourself. You deserve to be happy. The “one” will truly want this for you as well.

Never give up on your dreams. Anything is possible. You just have to believe it and keep after it even if it’s not easy.

Be patient. Things take time. Rushing leads to errors. If it’s meant to happen it’ll happen.

Stop talking and listen. Engage, don’t broadcast. The best conversations start with listening.

Don’t let others bring you down. Believe in yourself. If you think it’s possible, then that’s all that matters.

Don’t sweep problems under a rug. Ignoring problems can lead to build-ups that are set to explode. Take the time to understand what happened and why.

Step out of your comfort zone. Try something new. You may like it.

Know how to adjust when things don’t go your way. Things rarely end up the way you planned. Learn to be open to new ideas and opportunities.

Genuine gratitude goes a long way. Take the time to make someone else’s day brighter. Positive energy spreads like wildfire.

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. It doesn’t matter if you fall. Pick yourself back up and finish what you started.

Live within your means. Debt will consume your happiness. If you can’t afford it, then you don’t need it.

Give without expecting in return. Positive deeds always find a way back to you. Don’t expect it. It will find its way back.

Have a positive mental attitude. Negativity is a disease. Positive energy will help you through any situation you encounter.

Manifest your dreams into reality. The mind is a powerful tool. If you’re driven and consistent in approach, then you’ll continue getting closer to achieving what you want.

You can’t control others. We all have free will. You may not always agree with those around you (family, friends, strangers), but you have to respect their decisions.

Learn from your mistakes. Your best teacher is your last mistake. Every misstep is a growth opportunity. Sulking or wallowing in self-pity won’t get you anywhere. Take the time to understand what went wrong and what you would do differently in the future.

A boat floats until it sinks. As long as you’re still breathing, there’s still a chance to turn things around. Giving up should never be an option.

If you’re not doing some of the above, consider adopting them. It may help change your life for the better.